Ethically Challenged

On March 6, 1962, Diamondback reporter Pat Taylor revealed a disturbing trend surfacing on campus: textbook theft. Now, everyone knows that textbooks are ridiculously expensive, and no one wants to buy them back from you at the end of the term. On the other hand, stealing is not the solution to this problem. But several employees of the targeted College Park bookstore stated that thefts were occurring as much as “two a day or more.” According to store manager Harry Headlee, students could steal books easily because they “are able to wear large coats without suspicion.”

Bookstore staff complained that the university was not severe enough with their punishments, so the university responded by suspending the next student caught stealing a textbook for an entire academic year. The textbook in question? A Modern Introduction to Ethics. Mr. Headlee stated that he was able to catch the thief because yet another book was stolen just before this incident. Would you like to venture a guess at this first theft? The Dialogues of Plato – a book “in large part concerned with the search for justice.”

Read the entire article here, and stop by to discover more bizarre articles from years past. Remember that the Maryland Room in Hornbake Library holds a microfilmed copy of the Diamondback, as well as paper copies from the current academic year!